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hirvimaki's review against another edition
4.0
Ever since I found The Floating Admiral on the shelves of my bibliophile mother's workroom and was pulled into that fascinating literary game of consequences, I have been rather enthralled with the idea of a single, cohesive narrative written by multiple authors. The whodunit variant has been done countless times since the famous Detection Club (Christie, Sayers, Chesterton, Whitechurch, the Coles, Wade, Rhode, Kennedy, Knox, Crofts, Jepson, Dane, and Berkeley! Oh my!) published The Floating Admiral in 1931. Some good. Some stinkers. And I've read most of them. This is a pretty good one. It's not ground-breaking, but the mystery is sufficiently mysterious and watching the twists and turns as each author takes the wheel is a lot of fun, especially if you are familiar with the authors' bodies of work. Imperfect, because serial-novels always are - and that's part of the fun - it draws you in with interesting characters and a remarkably cohesive plot for something written by 20 people. There is no way that Lee Child will come across as Charlaine Harris or that Mary Higgins Clark will have the same focus as Heather Graham, but with Jonathan Santlofer's gentle guidance, the story moves pretty smoothly throughout. A good read.
novelette's review against another edition
2.0
I liked the multiple author voices, but the story itself was a little lacking
gabmc's review against another edition
3.0
This book had chapters written by 20 different crime/thriller authors. Ex NYPD Detective Perry Christo was forced to leave the police force under questionable circumstances. His marriage collapsed at the same time and he only see his 15 year old daughter on weekends. He is now a private detective. He receives a call from Julia Drusilla, a very wealthy woman who is trying to find her daughter. She is not close with her daughter, Angel, and hasn't even seen her in over a year. She tells Perry that Angel is due to inherit a huge fortune on her 21st birthday, but only if she signs some papers on the actual day. Perry goes to meet Julia's ex-husband, who leads him to her best friend, who leads him to her boyfriend, etc. I felt like lots of clues were planted along the way but when the book ended I wasn't completely happy with the resolution.
susan_ok's review against another edition
3.0
The premise of this book was interesting - 20 mystery writers getting together to each writer a chapter of a whodunnit for a good cause. The writing was less interesting. This book took forever to get off the ground. Only my guilt at finishing books I count towards the annual reading challenge kept me going.
corriespondent's review against another edition
3.0
Book flowed really well, a testament to good editing and collaboration between the many authors. Story was a bit predictable.
mbragg's review against another edition
1.0
It was a good effort but the plot was just too convoluted and the ending felt very random and rushed. Don't bother if you want to read something with any substance.
jkmfrog's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
samalvarez823's review against another edition
5.0
I think it's amazing that 20 different authors can pull an entire story together like this and it be awesome! The fact that they each wrote a chapter and no chapter had anything that didn't make sense in it was amazing!! Great read!
git_r_read's review against another edition
5.0
Superbly accomplished. The premise is one story with many authors. It could have been a helluva train wreck, but in the hands of Jonathan Santlofer as editor the book flowed rather seamlessly. Many of the writers are favorite authors, only one or two that I really didn't dig and there were a few I'd not heard of before but have been added to the WWBL.
Rich woman hires down-at-heels private investigator to find her daughter before said daughter's inheritance birthday. Seems simple enough, but as all excellent mysteries are, not everything is as it seems.
Definite recommend.
Rich woman hires down-at-heels private investigator to find her daughter before said daughter's inheritance birthday. Seems simple enough, but as all excellent mysteries are, not everything is as it seems.
Definite recommend.